Opening day 2026 for the dbacks was one to remember against the detroit tigers a game nobody saw coming there were some very stressful moments in this game the game ended up being much closer then it should have been from the very start of the game but there was more good takeaways then bad from the overall game.

Of course the first thing i had to do when i made it back to the ballpark for the first time of the year was go search for the opening day shirt i am not the type of person that collects opening day shirts or pins each year but i thought for the new season why not start a new tradition. eventually bought the shirt the shirt this year was so cute hard not to pass up. Michael Soroka would pitch the home opener in his first dbacks debut at chase field against tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander and man Soroka would not disappoint in his first dbacks debut it was very exciting being able to watch him pitch an immaculate inning live in person he would eventually have 10 Ks and go six strong scoreless innings setting a new dbacks record for strikeouts.

The offense wasted know time jumping all over Justin Verlander in the very first inning with Ketel Marte leading off with a hit right away Corbin Carroll would follow scoring Marte on a triple by the fifth inning of the game is was 8-0 dbacks. dbacks were pretty in control of this game things were looking really good looked like an easy win from the start especially how our starting pitching was pitching the whole game that was until we took Soroka out of the game he was done after six innings.

Then came the dreadful 7th inning now as a dbacks fan you really never know what to expect when watching this team play from so many past experiences the bullpen last year was one of the worst bullpens I’ve ever seen I still have nightmares from watching that bullpen try and get out of an inning in 2025 it was such a nightmare. so with dbacks already being up 8-0 I felt very comfortable very confident with the bullpen coming in to try and finish the next three innings no problem right.

I could not have been more wrong could probably speak on behalf of everyone who was at the same game that night the pitcher Joe Ross who came in the game to relieve soroka did an atrocious job never seen someone pitch so bad in my life before he would give up five runs I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing my angry was starting to build thinking to myself this isn’t happening right now can’t be happening.

he couldn’t even get an out so they had to bring in Ryan Thompson to try and get one out all we needed was one out Thompson was just as bad to be fair Thompson is usually really good in situations like this he’s usually not this bad but it was so painful watching him try to get one out he kept walking guys he balked twice in the same inning crowd was starting to get restless fans were getting mad including myself there were some angry boos. all because us fans have seen this happen way to many times especially last season with how many blown saves this bullpen cost us last year it was bad.

also have never seen two pitchers use up all the mound visits in the same inning it was pretty embarrassing dbacks had to bring in another reliever to try and get an out Juan Morillo thankfully came in and saved the day without giving up anymore runs the crowd was so relieved I was like thank you.

Can never express how good Ildemaro Vargas has been for the dbacks he got his first homerun of the season in the 7th inning which was much needed after that disastrous inning by the bullpen. thankfully we were able to successfully win this game without giving up anymore runs Paul Sewald would come in to get the save in the ninth inning it was an overall very fun exciting game the energy in the crowd was electric you could feel the energy as soon as you walked in stadium.

I was just very happy to be back at the ballpark again to see my favorite team play a really good baseball game we won’t mention the 7th inning still trying to pretend that inning never happened there’s seriously nothing better than baseball season especially opening day.